Hanger for cameras and the like

ABSTRACT

A hanger for cameras and the like, which consists of a hanger string connected to a swivel pivotally mounted on a ear piece integrally secured to the camera body and the like. A guide member is mounted on the swivel for retaining the swivel in such an angular position relative to the ear piece that the swivel may provide its maximum tensile strength.

Unite States Eatent Kuramoto et al.

[54] HANGER FOR CAMERAS AND THE LIKE [72] Inventors: Yoshio Kuramoto, Sakai; Akio Okamoto, Osaka; Toshio Kobori,

lzumiohtsu, all of Japan [73] Assignee: Minolta Camera Kabushiki Kaisha,

Osaka, Japan [22] Filed: June 26, 1970 21 Appl. No.2 50,272

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data July 4, 1969 Japan ..44/63936 52 us. c1. ..16/125, 190/57, 24/265 BI-I 51 1m. 01. ..A47b 95/02 [58] Field of Search....l6/125; 24/2051 SH, 265 SH, 24/265 H, 265 BE, 3 K; 224/45; 190/57, 58;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,096,429 5/1914 Howes ..190/58 1 Aug. 29, 1972 Cooper ..24/236 Karrman ..24/236 Rubin ..24/263 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 9,814 9/1907 Great Britain, ..24/263 Primary Examiner-Bobby R. vGay Assistant Examiner-Doris L. Troutman Attorney-Stanley Wolder ABSTRACT A hanger forcameras and the like, which consists of a hanger string connected to 'a swivel pivotally mounted on a car piece integrally secured to the camera body and the like. A guide member is mounted on the swivel for retaining the swivel in such an angular position relative to the ear piece that the swivel may pro vide its maximum tensile strength.

9 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATETEDAUBZB m2 3.68671 1 SHEET 1 0F 2 PRIOR ART 5 56.! 56.2

INVENTOR. Yosmo H RoTO f2 PATENTED Am; 2 9 1972 SHEET 2 (IF 2 FiG.7

INVENTOR. BYYOSHIO HdRHnoTo if a! HANGER FOR CAMERAS AND THE LIKE This invention relates to a hanger for a camera and the like, and more particularly to a hanger of a portable article, such as a camera body, an interchangeable lens assembly, a portable camera case, etc. which hanger comprises a hanging string connected a swivel pivotally mounted on a connecting ear piece secured to the portable article. The hanger of the present invention is featured in that the disposition of the hanging string, the swivel and the connecting ear piece is such that the maximum mechanical strength of the swivel can fully be utilized, so as to completely eliminate the risk of breakdown of the hanger due to the deformation or failure of the swivel, which may cause fatal damage to the portable article being carried by the hanger. The swivel is sandwiched by a resilient guide member in such a manner that the friction between the swivel and the portable article, e.g., a camera, is minimized, so as to eliminate the danger of scratching or other detrimental effects to the portable article by the swivel.

Most of known swivels for hangers of portable articles, such as cameras, have heretofore been made by bending a piece of metallic wire into a suitable shape. Such swivel made by bending a metallic wire has a high mechanical strength in one direction, but its strength in other directions is usually low. Accordingly, if such swivel is used for supporting a comparatively heavy articles, such as a heavy camera with a large telescopic lens assembly mounted thereon, and if the swivel happens to assume that angular position in which its mechanical strength is low, then the swivel may be deformed and, in the worst case, the portable article may slip out of the swivel and broken by the shock of falling down to the floor or ground.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to obviate the aforesaid difficulties of known hangers, by providing an improved hanger for a portable article, e.g., a camera. Said hanger has a swivel which is always kept in such a direction that it bears hanging or tensile load with its maximum available strength, said swivel is provided with a guide member for retaining the disposition of the swivel in the aforesaid direction without adversely affecting the portable article being supported by the hanger.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention may be appreciated by referring to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a partial schematic perspective view, illustrating a known camera hanger;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic illustration of a swivel and a swivel guide member, which are usable in a hanger for a camera and the like, according to the present invention; FIG. 3 is a partial elevational view of the hanger, showing the swivel and the guide member in a state as assembled;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view, taken along the line IV- IV of FIG. 3; and

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 are diagrammatic illustrations of different embodiments of the present invention, respectively.

Like parts are designated by like numerals throughout the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, a known camera hanger uses a swivel 1 having a projection 1' formed by an inwardly effective control of the position of the swivel itself relative to the ear piece 3. The projection 1' of such known swivel 1 has another shortcoming in that when the swivel comes in contact with the camera body 2, the projection 1' tends to scratch the surface of the camera body 2.

The present invention is intended to mitigate such difficulties of known hangers for cameras and the like.

FIGS. 2 to 4 illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention. In the Figures, a substantially triangular swivel 1 having two equilateral sides 4 and a base side 6 is pivotally connected to an ear piece 3, preferably made of metallic material, secured to a camera body 2. The swivel 1 has its maximum mechanical strength in the direction perpendicular to the base side 6, as shown by an arrow a of FIG. 2. The disposition of the swivel 1 relative to the ear piece 3 is such that the hanging load to the swivel 1 is always applied in the direction 11. Although a triangular swivel is illustrated in the figures, any other suitably shaped swivel can be used in the hanger of the invention, such as a rectangular or elliptic swivel.

The swivel 1 is sandwiched by two halves of a guide member 10 made of suitable resilient material, for instance, rubber or plastics. The opposing surfaces of the two halves of the guide member 10 are provided with tapered grooves 5 for seating the suitable portions of the swivel 1 for keeping the latter in proper angular position. In the illustrated embodiment, the grooves 5 are so formed as to receive two'equilateral sides 4 of the triangular swivel 1. The guidemember 10 also includes a flange 7 for sandwiching the base side 6 of the equilateral triangular swivel 1, and an elongated slot 9 is bored through each half of the guide members 1 at the flange 7 for receiving a hanger string 8 extending therethrough.

The hanger of the aforesaid construction is assembled and mounted on the camera body 2 when the camera itself is fabricated. The swivel 1 is pivotally mounted on the metallic ear piece 3 secured to the camera body 2 in that direction which provides the maximum tensile strength to the swivel 1. In the illustrated triangular swivel 1, its comer between the two equilateral sides 4 is pivotally f tted in a hole bored through the ear piece 3, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The two halves of the guide members 10 are secured to the swivel 1, so as to sandwich the swivel 1 from opposing directions while engaging the swivel l in the grooves 5 formed in the guide members. Then, a hanger string 8, or a strap, is extended through the hole 9 of the guide member 10. With the embodiment of FIGS. 2 to 4, the hanger string 8, or strap, penetrates through a space defined by the triangular swivel 1. Thus, the guide member 10 acts to retain the swivel 11 in a particular relation with the ear piece 3 so as to provide its maximum tensile strength; namely, the swivel 1 engages the ear piece 3 only at the corner between the two equilateral sides 4, but not at any other portions thereof, and hence, the hanging tension always acts to the swivel l in parallel with a vertical from the engaging corner to the base side 6 thereof, in which direction the swivel 1 provides the maximum tensile strength, as shown by the arrow of FIG. 2. The hanger string 8, or strap, acts to keep the guide member 10 in the position as assembled and prevents the guide member 10 from sliding upwards, as seen in FIG. 4, along the two equilateral sides 4 of the swivel. In short, the hanger string 8, or strap, acts to integrally hold the guide member 10 and the swivel 1 by extending through both of them.

In the aforesaid embodiment, the two halves of the guide member 10 have grooves 5 engageable with the sides 4 of the swivel swivel 1. Instead of such grooves, it is possible to form suitable recesses on each of the two halves of the guide member 10, so as to snappingly hold the periphery of the swivel in the recesses. In another embodiment of the guide member 10, as shown in FIG. 5, the two halves of guide member are connected together along one edge thereof by means of a suitable flexible joint means. FIG. 6 illustrates another embodiment of the guide member 10, which consists of a pair of plates each having grooves 11 adapted to sandwich the equilateral sides 4 of a swivel. The guide member of FIG. 6 does not include any slot for receiving a hanger string 8.

FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the invention, which comprises an ear piece 3 mountable on a portable article, a triangular swivel 1 with equilateral sides 4 and a base side 6, a guide member 10, and a hanger strap 8. The guide member 10 of this embodiment is made by folding a single sheet of resilient sheet, e.g., a steel sheet, while forming a pair of central flat portions and a pair of sleeve portions 13 along opposing edges thereof for receiving the equilateral sides 4 of the swivel 1. The opposing edges 12 of the sheet material are disposed at about the center of the flat portion of the guide member 10, so as to sandwich the swivel ll from opposing directions. The two flat portions of the guide member 10 are in contact with each other. For mounting the guide member 10 to the swivel 1, each of the equilateral sides 4 of the swivel is forced through the contact portion between the two flat portions by separating the edge 12 from the coacting flat portions against its resiliency and slided into the corresponding sleeve portion 13. With such guide member 10, the corner between the two equilateral sides 4 of the swivel 1 is always kept in engagement with the ear piece 3, so as to provide its maximum tensile strength against the hanging load.

Although the present invention has been described with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure has been made only by way of example and that numerous modifications in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

What is claimed is:

1. A hanger for a portable article comprising an ear piece having an aperture therein and positioned on said article, a wire frame swivel including at least an upper cross leg and a pair of lower side legs converging downwardly to a bottom section universally swingably engaging said ear piece aperture, an elongated flexible hanger member having a portion looped about and engaging said swivel cross leg, and a restricting member at least partially formed of a resilient material engaging said swivel and limiting the relative movement between said swivel and ear piece to said swivel bottom section and maintains the engagement between said swivel cross leg and said hanger member looped portion.

2. The hanger of claim 1 wherein said restricting member registers with said swivel frame and has grooves formed along side edges thereof engaging respective adjacent swivel side legs.

3. The hanger of claim 2 wherein said restricting member includes a pair of flanges embracing said swivel cross leg and having slots formed therein engaged by said hanger member looped portion.

4. The hanger of claim 1, wherein said restricting member is formed of a unitary resilient sheet which is folded about said swivel side legs to define tubular portions engaging said side legs and wings extending from said tubular portion to a medial line between said side legs, the restricting member being mounted on the swivel by forcing the swivel side legs into said tubular portions of the restricting member against the resiliency thereof.

5. The hanger of claim 1 wherein said restricting member comprises a pair of interconnected confronting similar sections each of which is provided with grooves along opposite edges engaging corresponding swivel side edges.

6. The hanger of claim 5 wherein said restricting member sections are interconnected along a pair of corresponding edges by a resilient section.

7. The hanger of claim 1 wherein said swivel is of equilateral triangular configuration with said cross leg defining the base thereof and said side legs defining the equilateral sides thereof and converging to an apex portion defining said ear piece-aperture engaging bottom section.

8. A hanger for a portable article, comprising an ear piece secured to the article, a swivel pivotally mounted on the ear piece, a hanger string means connected to the swivel, and a guide member made of a resilient material and mounted on said swivel in such a manner that the guide member keeps the swivel in such an angular position relative to the ear piece that the swivel may provide maximum tensile strength thereof, said swivel being a triangular member having a pair of equilateral side portions and a base side portion extending between the equilateral side portions, and said guide member having grooves which sandwich the two equilateral side portions.

9. A hanger for a portable article, comprising an ear piece secured to the article, a swivel pivotally mounted on the ear piece, a hanger string means connected to the swivel, and a guide member made of a resilient material and mounted on said swivel in such a manner that the guide member keeps the swivel in such an angular position relative to the ear piece that the swivel may provide maximum tensile strength thereof, said guide member consisting of a single resilient sheet which is folded back at opposite ends thereof so as to bring the opposite edges to the central portion of the guide member, the guide member being mounted on the swivel by forcing the swivel between the folded portions of the guide member against the resiliency thereof. 

1. A hanger for a portable article comprising an ear piece having an aperture therein and positioned on said article, a wire frame swivel including at least an upper cross leg and a pair of lower side legs converging downwardly to a bottom section universally swingably engaging said ear piece aperture, an elongated flexible hanger member having a portion looped about and engaging said swivel cross leg, and a restricting member at least partially formed of a resilient material engaging said swivel and limiting the relative movement between said swivel and ear piece to said swivel bottom section and maintains the engagement between said swivel cross leg and said hanger member looped portion.
 2. The hanger of claim 1 wherein said restricting member registers with said swivel frame and has grooves formed along side edges thereof engaging respective adjacent swivel side legs.
 3. The hanger of claim 2 wherein said restricting member includes a pair of flanges embracing said swivel cross leg and having slots formed therein engaged by said hanger member looped portion.
 4. The hanger of claim 1, wherein said restricting member is formed of a unitary resilient sheet which is folded about said swivel side legs to define tubular portions engaging said side legs and wings extending from said tubular portion to a medial line between Said side legs, the restricting member being mounted on the swivel by forcing the swivel side legs into said tubular portions of the restricting member against the resiliency thereof.
 5. The hanger of claim 1 wherein said restricting member comprises a pair of interconnected confronting similar sections each of which is provided with grooves along opposite edges engaging corresponding swivel side edges.
 6. The hanger of claim 5 wherein said restricting member sections are interconnected along a pair of corresponding edges by a resilient section.
 7. The hanger of claim 1 wherein said swivel is of equilateral triangular configuration with said cross leg defining the base thereof and said side legs defining the equilateral sides thereof and converging to an apex portion defining said ear piece aperture engaging bottom section.
 8. A hanger for a portable article, comprising an ear piece secured to the article, a swivel pivotally mounted on the ear piece, a hanger string means connected to the swivel, and a guide member made of a resilient material and mounted on said swivel in such a manner that the guide member keeps the swivel in such an angular position relative to the ear piece that the swivel may provide maximum tensile strength thereof, said swivel being a triangular member having a pair of equilateral side portions and a base side portion extending between the equilateral side portions, and said guide member having grooves which sandwich the two equilateral side portions.
 9. A hanger for a portable article, comprising an ear piece secured to the article, a swivel pivotally mounted on the ear piece, a hanger string means connected to the swivel, and a guide member made of a resilient material and mounted on said swivel in such a manner that the guide member keeps the swivel in such an angular position relative to the ear piece that the swivel may provide maximum tensile strength thereof, said guide member consisting of a single resilient sheet which is folded back at opposite ends thereof so as to bring the opposite edges to the central portion of the guide member, the guide member being mounted on the swivel by forcing the swivel between the folded portions of the guide member against the resiliency thereof. 